Fish hook removal.......from the fish not a person

[Nester]

Had a jackfish tonite pretty much have the 3 treble hook swallowed, pretty much impossible to take out without doing some serious damage.


Had the spring mouth opener, long needle nosed pliers and some helping hands but it was a mess.

Any tips or hints that you use to make it a bit easier for the fish and myself? Hate putting an undersized fish back in the water with damage too it. I try to be rather quick about it but still .......

[t3metro]

Small high leverage cutters just cut the hook and leave it. It will be easier for the fish to recover from.

[Steven Noel]

Our "Hook Out" works great for deep hooked fish.

http://www.landbigfish.com/showcase.cfm?PID=2818

[Doc]

Remove all treble hooks from your lures and replace with barbless single hooks. Problem solved.

[fluxcore]

I use a set of side cutters as a last resort and snip the hook/hooks as low as possible and salvage my lure and hope the fish isn't out of eating for two long. Caught a pike with broken gills hanging out of the gill plate that managed to heal up.

[GeoTrekr]

Originally Posted by Doc

Remove all treble hooks from your lures and replace with barbless single hooks. Problem solved.

That's what I've started doing. I've also removed the middle treble hook from my Rapala lures, leaving only the tail hook. Too much trouble removing the lure from the fish, and too much of my blood spilling in the process lead me to adopt this practice.

[waterninja]

Originally Posted by Doc

Remove all treble hooks from your lures and replace with barbless single hooks. Problem solved.

x2 wont be long before trebles are banned as they do more damage then any single barbed hook imho

[jimbo1]

another vote for sidecutters and cutting off as much as possible as said the fish will have a better chance of recovery

[slivers86]

Originally Posted by waterninja

x2 wont be long before trebles are banned as they do more damage then any single barbed hook imho

Yes they do! I'm clipping 1 hook off all my trebles. Doubles still give you better odds, and are easier to get out imo

[Cal]

Originally Posted by slivers86

Yes they do! I'm clipping 1 hook off all my trebles. Doubles still give you better odds, and are easier to get out imo

Depending on the aplication I dont find singles lessen your odds. Never tried them on cranks or bucktail spinners but with spoons I've never noticed a bit of difference. I pull the extra trebles off my cranks as well but IMO your better off leaving the front one on and replacing the rear one with a small spinner blade. Fish usualy strike at the head of their prey or across the body, I can probably count the number of fish I've caught on the tail hook over the years on one hand.

[Freedom55]

Originally Posted by Doc

Remove all treble hooks from your lures and replace with barbless single hooks. Problem solved.

The replacement hooks should weigh the same as the trebles you remove to keep the crankbait balanced.

Or remove both trebles and replace with only one. Determine if the pike are taking the bait from behind or alongside, then use that hook only. The trailing hook should sit point up and the midships hook should be pointed down. Use split rings.

Free

[billie]

Originally Posted by slivers86

Yes they do! I'm clipping 1 hook off all my trebles. Doubles still give you better odds, and are easier to get out imo

I used to do this also and someone mentioned balance so I switched to turning one pont in tight to the shank so it can't hook. I haven't had a difficult hook set since, both fish

[slivers86]

Originally Posted by Cal

Fish usualy strike at the head of their prey or across the body, I can probably count the number of fish I've caught on the tail hook over the years on one hand.

See I find the opposite. I have never hooked a fish (other than a stupid pike) with the front hook on a crank. Always the back or middle hook. I've foul hooked a couple in the head with the front but that always seems to be it!

[Paul C]

Originally Posted by slivers86

Yes they do! I'm clipping 1 hook off all my trebles. Doubles still give you better odds, and are easier to get out imo

X2 or cut hooks. Common sense applies here. Cutting the two hooks off of the treble is more cost effective and takes less time to do than changing the whole the set up.
Most hardware stores carry heavy duty diagonal side cutters.

[Paul C]

Originally Posted by Doc

Remove all treble hooks from your lures and replace with barbless single hooks. Problem solved.

Good idea but not cost effective. Cutting two barbs will is easier to do.

[Shawnlh]

Personally, I hate treble hooks. The only time trebles should be used is if you plan on harvesting the fish.

Adopting a policy, something of this nature, into the regs would be great.

[DiabeticKripple]

I have no problem with trebles. About 90% of the time it's either caught in the face of the fish, or it's just one hook in the mouth.

The other day a rainbow had 2 of the hook in te top, the other in the bottom. BeeGuy twisted the bottom hook and popped it, then pushed back on the top 2. Didn't take long at all and all I had to do after was twist the bent hook back where it was

[Cal]

Originally Posted by slivers86

See I find the opposite. I have never hooked a fish (other than a stupid pike) with the front hook on a crank. Always the back or middle hook. I've foul hooked a couple in the head with the front but that always seems to be it!

I've heard people say this befor, not doubting you at all but it just seems crazy to me. I dont know when I first started fishing cranks but I'd say by the time I was 15 I'm sure I had a few. I'm now 30 so thats 15 years of fishing cranks and hundreds of fish of all species and like I said its less than half a dozen that I've seen come in on the tail hook.

[Geezle]

Originally Posted by Cal

I've heard people say this befor, not doubting you at all but it just seems crazy to me. I dont know when I first started fishing cranks but I'd say by the time I was 15 I'm sure I had a few. I'm now 30 so thats 15 years of fishing cranks and hundreds of fish of all species and like I said its less than half a dozen that I've seen come in on the tail hook.

I've caught tons of pike on the tail hook of a crank...I'll be retrieving it and then suddenly the line will go slack because the fish hits it from behind, so you've gotta pick up the slack line like a madman and try to keep pressure on the line before they shake it.

But then I spend a lot of time chasing the snot rockets...walleye for example, could be different?

[dodger]

I have been cutting one hook off my trebs for the last 15 years. All raps and lures still work the same. I can't remember the last floater after release that I have had.

Dodger.

[Isopod]

Good thread, hate it when a pike is hooked bad, I'm going to try cutting off one hook from each treble and see how that works.

[Lefty-Canuck]

I had to help a guy @ Coal Lake one day release a 13 inch pike that somehow on earth engulfed a 5 inch spoon with a treble....we unclasped the swivel from the hook and pulled it out through the gill plate opening....let the hungry little guy go. There was no way that hook was going to be pulled out through the mouth.....

LC

[Cal]

Originally Posted by Geezle

I've caught tons of pike on the tail hook of a crank...I'll be retrieving it and then suddenly the line will go slack because the fish hits it from behind, so you've gotta pick up the slack line like a madman and try to keep pressure on the line before they shake it.

But then I spend a lot of time chasing the snot rockets...walleye for example, could be different?

Like I said all species or at least walleye, pike, and a few species of trout. I'd say walleye seem more likely to be hooked on the rear hook than the pike or trout. I probably boat 100 walleye a year, for the last 4 of them the majority have been caught on crank baits and I'd say maby one or two a year at the most come in on the rear hook. Maby I'll try to keep track in the future and come up with some kind of ratio.

[carterM]

I've been replacing all trebles on lures with single hooks for several years (probably 7 or 8?) and it makes a huge difference in the ease of release. At least 75% of fish can be released without removing them from the water. A friend of mine uses trebles and if a fish is hooked deep it's pretty much guaranteed to get ripped up if you try to take the hook out. With a single, it is usually a pretty easy operation.

As far as it not being cost effective...I've bought 2 boxes of single barbless hooks since I started doing this. I do tend to fish with spoons (1 hook vs 3 on some cranks) more than anything else and also seem to lose very few lures so that will help stretch it out. Compared to the amount of money I spend on fishing in a year, a box of hooks every 3 years is really nothing...

[Jayball]

i do this as well. on all of the larger raps, i have even removed the top treble as well so i only have the tail hook. i fish with my young kids often and this makes life easier.

Originally Posted by GeoTrekr

That's what I've started doing. I've also removed the middle treble hook from my Rapala lures, leaving only the tail hook. Too much trouble removing the lure from the fish, and too much of my blood spilling in the process lead me to adopt this practice.

[Dewey Cox]

The best thing for the health of the fish would be to remove all the hooks from the lure and talk the fish into being landed.